Frieza (Japanese: フリーザ, Hepburn: Furīza), romanized as Freeza in Japanese merchandise, Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. Frieza makes his debut in Chapter #247: Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek (暗雲うずまくナメック星, An'un Uzumaku Namekkusei), first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on October 6, 1989,[1] as a galactic tyrant feared as the most powerful being in the universe.

Despite not appearing until the manga's second half, Frieza is considered to be the most iconic antagonist from the Dragon Ball franchise due to effectively serving as the catalyst of many of the events depicted in the story, such as Goku's arrival on Earth, the Saiyans landing on Earth, and subsequently the main characters going to planet Namek. In his appearances in the manga itself, he is also directly responsible for the murder of Goku's father Bardock, the genocide of the Saiyan race, the death of Vegeta, and the second death of Goku's best friend Krillin, arguably making him Goku's most personal and significant enemy, and the final confrontation between Goku and Frieza has been hailed as one of the most memorable manga and anime battles ever.

Frieza later appeared as the antagonist in the theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and as an antagonist and recurring character in Dragon Ball Super.

Contents

1 Creation and conception

2 Appearances

2.1 Dragon Ball

2.2 Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' / Dragon Ball Super

3 Abilities

4 Appearances in other media

4.1 Video games

5 Voice actors

6 Reception

7 Bibliography

8 References

Creation and conception

Frieza, a broker who forcibly takes over planets to resell them, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."[2] Toriyama purposely does not draw bad guys so unscrupulous that it affects one psychologically, although he admits Frieza is close. Therefore, he paid special attention to how Frieza spoke; because villains typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty.[3] The character's name is a pun on freezer, and because of this the members of the Ginyu Force are named after items one would normally put in a refrigerator.[4] The Shenlong Times issue #2, a bonus pamphlet given to some buyers of the Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide guidebook, says that Frieza was modeled after Toriyama's editor at the time, Yū Kondō.[5]

Frieza so far possesses five transformation forms, each one being quite different and more powerful from the previous ones. It is implied that Frieza's fourth form is actually his basic one, with the other three being transformations that suppress his power in order to conserve it,[6] while the fifth one unleashes his true power. Toriyama revealed that he did not think to have Frieza transform until about midway through. He said he has a habit of making characters gradually more tough and complex-looking, until finally making them very sleek, as it is a pain to draw them if their appearance is too complex. The author confirmed this is why Frieza's third and most intricate form is only shown for a short time, and joked that three transformations might be one too many.[3]

Appearances Dragon Ball

Before the start of the series, Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta, as Beerus asked him to do so, out of both fear of a potential uprising by the Saiyans due to their increasing power and the prophecy of the coming of the legendary Super Saiyan. Frieza spares only Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, offering them wealth for their loyalty. However, when Raditz's father made a final stand when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he did not notice the Saiyan's second son being sent to Earth where he became known as Goku.

Frieza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and his men massacre Namekian villages one after another, until Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta begin to hamper his efforts in their own way. Though Frieza manages to gain the Dragon Balls, with the Ginyu Force dealing with the interlopers, his inability to speak Namekian forces him to find the Great Elder of Namek. Frieza ends up fighting Namekian warrior Nail, whom he beats repeatedly until Nail reveals that their fight was only to buy time for Dende to give the words needed to activate the Namekian Dragon Balls, for the warriors from Earth. With his entire army killed by Vegeta and the Ginyu Force defeated by Goku, Frieza intercepts Vegeta and the others personally.

Frieza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power. Frieza transforms into his second form, and during the battle he finally admits to be the one who had destroyed the planet where the Saiyans had settled. After defeating Vegeta, Frieza takes on Piccolo, who has at this point fused with Nail. Although Piccolo appears to be even with him, he transforms into his third form and dominates the powerful Namekian.[7] Following a brief tussle with Gohan, Frieza decides to transform into his final form.[8] He kills Dende to stop him from healing the others[9] and mortally wounds Vegeta just as Goku arrives, who just recovered following his fight with the Ginyu Force.[10] Frieza fights Goku and brutally beats him,[11] however Goku manages to seriously wound him with a Genki-Dama.[12] Frieza then critically injures Piccolo and murders Krillin, which sends Goku over the edge to assume Super Saiyan form for the first time.[13]

Frieza starts to realize that he is outmatched and damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation.[14] He then uses 100% of his power (he had been using 50% up until that point), and regains the advantage, however he cannot sustain this form and is ultimately cut in half. Though Goku spares the crippled Frieza while leaving for his ship to escape the planet's destruction, he ends up seemingly killing Frieza when he makes a final attempt on Goku's life.[15] But in reality, Frieza survives both the attack and Namek's explosion, drifting through space until he is found by his father King Cold (コルド大王, Korudo Daiō) and rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics. A year later, Frieza and King Cold travel to Earth in order to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma's son from the future.[16] After a brief battle, Frieza is sliced to pieces by Trunks and blasted into oblivion, with his father following shortly afterwards. Despite finally being dead, his cells are used as a catalyst for the future villain Cell.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' / Dragon Ball Super

After Frieza's death, his spirit was kept imprisoned in Earth's Hell, where he was tortured by being forced to endure the playful antics of an overly saccharine cadre of angels while reliving the memories of his defeats at the hands of Goku and Trunks. But fourteen years after Frieza's demise, his two surviving subordinates Sorbet and Tagoma collected all of the Dragon Balls with the aid of the Pilaf Gang and resurrect him as his disemboweled Mecha Frieza form. The two bring Frieza to their ship and use their advanced medical technology to restore Frieza to full organic form. Bent on revenge while learning that Goku defeated the likes of Majin Buu, Frieza decides to undergo four months of intensive training and achieves a new form which he dubs "Golden Frieza" and sets off for Earth with his army. On Earth, the Z Fighters battle Frieza's minions to stall for time so that Goku and Vegeta, off on a training session with the gods Whis and Beerus, can return. Frieza executes his defeated army for their incompetence just as Goku, Vegeta, Beerus, and Whis arrive. Goku and Vegeta reveal their new Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan forms, and battle Frieza, killing Sorbet in the crossfire. Although Frieza's Golden form is stronger than Goku's strongest form, Frieza's stamina can not endure a prolonged fight with this form, and he is eventually cornered by Vegeta. Frieza destroys the Earth in retaliation for his defeat, killing Vegeta while he survives, but Whis rewinds time and allows Goku to kill Frieza once more. Frieza returns to Hell, where he is once more tormented by the angels.[17]

In the later story arc featuring the tournament between the 6th and 7th Universes, Frieza himself does not appear, however his Universe 6 counterpart Frost (フロスト, Furosuto) makes an appearance as the second fighter on Team Universe 6. Frieza appears in the manga adaption omake alongside Sorbet and Susami in Hell.

In the Universal Tournament Arc, Frieza becomes the 10th member of the Universe 7 team after Majin Buu is ineligible to fight. When visited by Goku in Hell, later revealed to have mentally trained himself maintain his Golden form, Frieza accepts the offer on the condition of being revived by the Dragon Balls after the tournament. Universe 4 finds out about Frieza's enrollment into the Universe 7 team, and convinces Universe 9 to hire assassins to kill him as he is brought back to the living world by Fortuneteller Babba for 24 hours. Goku meets up with Frieza, but before they can meet up with the others they are stopped by a group of assassins that are claiming their heads. Frieza kills most of the assassins before trapping Goku in an energy attack, taking one of the assassin's communicators as he attempted to deal with Universe 9's leaders to join their group before being forced to destroy the item when Beerus and Whis appear. Beerus believes Frieza is plotting something, but Goku vouches for him and the two return to meet with the rest of their team. During the tournament, meeting Frost and setting up an alliance with him to take out the Saiyans, Frieza forces Universe 9's Roselle to forfeit and then easily disposes of Universe 10's Murichim.[18] Frieza later spots Gohan struggling against Universe 2's Jimeze, eventually deciding to intervene and brutally defeats Jimeze. When Frost appears to commence their arrangement Frieza, revealed to tricked his Universe 6 counterpart, momentarily knocks Gohan out so he can eliminate Frost while his guard was down before aiding Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Androids 17 and 18 in defeating Universe 3's fighter. Frieza becomes one of the four combatants standing alongside Goku, Android 17 and Universe 11's Jiren, unexpectedly teaming up with Goku to force Jiren out in a triple elimination with 17 declared the winner. Frieza is resurrected soon after by Whis at the behest of Beerus as a reward for his efforts and take his leave to begin rebuilding his empire.

Shortly after the Tournament, Frieza will be teaming up with Vegeta and Goku to fight Broly in the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Abilities

Frieza is capable of moving at superhuman speeds, flying, and has quick reflexes.[19] Like most characters in the series, he can harness a supernatural energy known as Ki and manipulate it into powerful and devastating concussive beams of said energy, with which he is able to destroy planets with relative ease. Some of Frieza's signature ki techniques include the Death Beam (デスビーム, Desu Bīmu), a sharp piercing beam from his finger, and the Death Ball (デスボール, Desu Bōru), a large energy sphere he used to destroy planet Namek. He is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, and also seems to possess some form of telekinesis, being able to lift opponents without touching them and cause them to explode.

Frieza's power was so great over time, that his body could not comfortably contain it and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength.[20] While changing shape from his "first-form", each alteration builds on the previous. In all, Frieza has three transformed states, each with increasing power, some larger than others and each resulting in different physical attributes, although the two transformed states (along with his first form) were merely to suppress Frieza's power, and that his third transformed state is actually his true form, while a fourth further transformation that he discovered after his four months of training actually increases his power drastically and lets out most of his latent strength.

First form

Frieza's first three forms, from right to left.

In his weakest form, Frieza is a relatively short humanoid with a large chestnut-shaped skull and two horns. He also has a tail with a spiked end, as well as having three talon-like toes.[21] Frieza wears the same upper-body armor and shorts that many of his subordinates are shown to wear, and while traveling, often gives the appearance of weakness by exclusively using his hoverchair for transportation, leaving his henchmen to do his "dirty work". Though frail in comparison with his succeeding forms, Frieza still boasts sufficient force to destroy planets.[22] While shifting to his next stage, Frieza breaks his battle-jacket, revealing a natural white armor covering his chest and shoulders.

His second form is much larger, both in height and muscle mass. He grows longer horns, which now instead of protruding sideways from his head curve sharply upwards into near right angles.[23] In this form, Frieza does not have any trouble taking out Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan. However, Frieza notices that Piccolo's power level is about equal to his own level, leaving Frieza with no choice but to transform again. This form largely resembles his father, King Cold.

Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart Frost also takes on a second form, however it bears a greater resemblance to Frieza's third form and is said to be the equivalent of it by Piccolo.

Third form

Frieza's third form is again more brutish, with an extremely elongated skull (like an Alien). His facial features contort and change, with his nose melding into his mouth to form a crude beak. His original horns recede and are now white in color, erupting in pairs along the length of his head. His tail tip, which had been cut off by Kuririn, did not regenerate and he now has a slight hunch. Although his tail was surprisingly not regenerated, the rest of his wounds disappeared as if nothing ever touched him.[24]

Fourth form

Drastically differing from his previous transformations, in his final, true form, Frieza's third form (being more like a shell for this final form) cracks and shatters open, revealing a shorter and less bulky appearance. His horns and spikes disappear with his physique becoming entirely streamlined and his skin is now a pure, solid white with purple sections on his head, shoulders, forearms, chest and shins. All injuries taken in other forms are healed. This is the form that allows him to release his full potential. Frieza is also able to attain 100% power of this form, his muscle mass becoming engorged compared to his previously sleek frame.[25] This is the peak of Frieza's natural potential, and the maximum amount of power his body can output. This form gives Frieza enough strength and speed to make even Super Saiyan Goku struggle; however to obtain such power, Frieza's body is subjected to a muscle strain, which slowly lowers his energy, reducing his speed until he cannot compete with Super Saiyan Goku anymore. This transformation is therefore not suitable for prolonged combat, with Frieza trying to finish the fight as quickly as possible by destroying Planet Namek.[26]

Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also briefly uses this form during the Tournament of Power.

Mecha Frieza

After being cut in half by his own attack and being caught in Namek's huge explosion, what remains of the still-living Frieza is salvaged and rebuilt with cybernetic enhancements by scientists under the order of King Cold; this form is referred to as Mecha Frieza (メカフリーザ) in video games. The whole of the lower half of his body and right side of his face are replaced, as is his left arm from the shoulder down, with scarring and metal accoutrements covering what little was left of his organic self. It is stated that these enhancements have made him even more powerful. However, he was never able to unleash his full power in this form, since he was quickly destroyed by Trunks.[27]

Golden Frieza

Frieza attains another transformation in the 2015 film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and Dragon Ball Super. According to Frieza, his fifth transformation is achieved after undergoing intensive training for four months, enabling him to gain the strength to progress even further beyond his previous transformations by drawing out all of his latent power (as he had never trained a day in his life beforehand).[28] In this form, Frieza's physique is similar to his previous fourth form except his skin is now a golden color as opposed to white, with purple sections on his head, chest, forearms and shins, thus he is known as "Golden Frieza" (ゴールデンフリーザ, Gōruden Furīza) in this form. In this form at peak power, Frieza is able to overpower Goku in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form with relative ease. This form however, drains his energy much like when he used 100% of his power in his fourth form, due to him not training himself further to become accustomed to the form, and thus is also unsuitable for prolonged combat, as he soon finds himself unable to compete with Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan forms. After his second revival, Frieza reveals he mastered his Golden form due to intense meditation while in hell. This "True Golden Frieza" can be used indefinitely without any drain on Frieza's stamina or even while he is barely conscious.[29] Frieza's Japanese voice actor, Ryūsei Nakao jokingly placed Golden Frieza's power level at “one hundred quintillion” (or 1.2 billion times stronger than the Fourth form).[30] In Dragon Ball Heroes there is a version of Golden Frieza called "Rage Golden Frieza" which is an empowered version of Golden Frieza fuelled by Rage which also appears in Super as well.

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In the GT live action stage play, it shows Frieza had gain this transformation alongside Cell who escaped Hell and searching for Goku They easily beat Trunks but Pan tricks them into Searching Goku elsewhere.

Appearances in other media

In numerous filler episodes of the anime and Dragon Ball GT, Frieza makes numerous cameo appearances, usually as comic relief, causing trouble in Hell, having somehow been permitted to keep his body despite his wrongdoings. In Hell, he is defeated and sent to prison by Goku and Pikkon along with Cell, his father and the Ginyu Force, and he is later seen watching Goku's final battle with Majin Buu in a crystal ball, comically hoping for Goku to lose. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Frieza briefly escapes from Hell with an army of villains to attack Earth, but he is swiftly defeated by Gohan. In Dragon Ball GT, when Goku is sent to Hell by accident, Frieza and Cell confront him, their bodies having been rendered temporarily immortal due to the unbalance between the two worlds. Using a joint attack, Frieza and Cell send Goku to a lower level where he is frozen by a witch, but the two villains end up frozen themselves when they foolishly venture downwards to gloat at Goku. Goku accidentally breaks the ice holding Frieza and Cell and it shatters to pieces, implying that Frieza and Cell have been erased from existence. However, in a future scene, Frieza and Cell are seen being taken away in a jail cell with tape over their mouths and appear in the live action GT show where he and Cell gained new forms to track down Goku. He appeared in a TV ad for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, as he makes a non-speaking appearance in the film.[31]

He also appears in a chapter of Toriyama's Neko Majin manga, published in August 2003, which also introduces Frieza's son, Kuriza (クリーザ). He briefly appears in the 2006 Dragon Ball crossover chapter, "This is the Police Station in front of Dragon Park on Planet Namek" (こちらナメック星ドラゴン公園前派出所, Kochira Namekku-sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo), of Osamu Akimoto's manga Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo.[32] Frieza appears in Naho Ōishi's 2011 Dragon Ball spin-off manga Episode of Bardock, but it predominately features his ancestor Chilled (チルド). He also appears in Toriyama's 2014 Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child special.[33]

Frieza has made numerous appearances in other media. The Japanese nu metal/hardcore punk band Maximum the Hormone released the song "F" as part of a double A-side single on July 9, 2008.[34] The entirety of the song references Frieza, with the single itself rising as high as number two on the Oricon music chart.[35] The song was the source of reference used by Toriyama for the title of the film Fukkatsu no F and is featured in the movie.[36] Seikima-II frontman Demon Kakka wrote and performed the song "Tada Kogoeru Elegy ~The Theme of Frieza~" (ただ凍える挽歌(Elegy)〜The Theme Of FREEZER〜) that appeared in two episodes of Dragon Ball Kai and on the 2009 Dragon Ball Kai Song Collection album.[37]

In the manga Black Cat, the character Sven Vollfied is often seen using his cell phone with a wrist strap of a miniature-sized badge of Frieza's head.[38] A caricature of Frieza mixed with a grey alien was parodied as a mech pilot in an episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.[39] The anime Yakitate!! Japan featured a spoof re-enactment of the fight between Goku and Frieza, with a character clad in a refrigerator representing the latter.[40] The Cartoon Network show Codename: Kids Next Door had a parody of their own of the climactic fight and the Frieza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity.[41]

Video games

Frieza has been featured in many of the video games based on the series. Often, he's both a playable character and boss, though more frequently the latter. He is also usually able to transform into his many different forms.

Frieza appears in the Famicom game (and later Playdia remake) Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku. Frieza seems to be somehow resurrected, and he and other past villains start attacking Goku and his friends. Once it's revealed these are merely ghost-warriors meant to distract the heroes, however, the false Frieza and his allies are easily dealt with. Other games highlight Frieza in alternate story paths; including those where he successfully attains immortality and goes on to threaten Earth such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 where Frieza and Cell are resurrected and controlled by Bobbidi as a distraction for the player.

Frieza also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting games Jump Ultimate Stars, Battle Stadium D.O.N, and J-Stars Victory Vs.

In the original Japanese version, Frieza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in all media.[42]

In English, Frieza was voiced by Linda Young in the original Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z and all subsequent media up until the first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai. He has since been voiced by Christopher Ayres in all media. Due to Ayres being diagnosed with end-stage COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and requiring a double lung transplant, he has since been voiced by his understudy Daman Mills.[43] Following his treatment, Ayres returned to voice Frieza for the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly.[44]

Reception

Yū Kondō, Toriyama's second editor from the Saiyan arc until the appearance of Perfect Cell, and Fuyuto Takeda, his third editor from Perfect Cell until the end of the series, said that Dragon Ball hit its peak in popularity during the Frieza arc. In a one-thousand ballot popularity poll held in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball received 815 of them.[45] In 2004, fans of the series voted Frieza the ninth most popular character for a poll in the book Dragon Ball Forever.[46]

Frieza was mentioned as one of the "most beloved characters" in an article by GamePro.[47] The casting and direction of his English voices has often been criticized over the years, with IGN's Ramsey Isler writing that, coupled with the ambiguous physical features, the "old lady" voice lead to some gender confusion with fans.[48] The Ledger's December 8, 1999, paper, names him as one of the reasons that Dragon Ball Z was listed as a violent show for children stating, "In one recent episode, beads of sweat form on the brow of a character named Vegeta, as he is nearly strangled to death by an evil foe named Frieza. In another, Frieza uses the horns on his head to impale a good guy named Kuririn through the chest." [49] As well as opinions on his appearance: "Little Gohan is abruptly in the icy metallic grip of one of his arch-nemeses , Frieza, a silvery androgynous giant who looks like a cross between the monster in Alien and Batman's Mr. Freeze." [50]

^Vegeta: "There are some beings who change their shape as the need arises... for camouflage... to conserve energy." / Frieza: "Or, in my case, because I become so powerful I can't keep myself under control!" (Dragon Ball Z manga, volume 9, chapter 102)

^ While other beings in Dragon Ball transform to increase their power, Frieza transforms to control and contain it. His true form is his fourth form (Dragon Ball Z manga, volume 10, chapter 109), with each of his other transformations meant to restrict his power and conceal it from his enemies. Frieza even says upon transforming to his second state that he has a harder time controlling himself and his power due to the immensity of his current strength (Dragon Ball Z manga, volume 9, chapter 102).

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